Arranged Marriage
by kikkina123
Summary: It's a year after the war and the Ministry of Magic have come up with a law to restore the Magical Community.All wizards and witches are expected to get married and conceive a child in a year.Will love be born or will hatred reign?
1. Chapter 1

Hermione was awoken by the sound of her cellphone."Hello, who's there?" She had to put the phone down when she heard Ron's urgent voice shouting from the other end of the cellphone. "Ron, calm down because I am not understanding a word you're saying. Repeat yourself…this time slowly", said Hermione. "Hermione this is too complicated to explain on the phone. Meet me in front of Flourish and Blotts in an hour. The others will be there too", explained Ron.

Hermione realised, from the tone of Ron's voice that this was serious, so she started to prepare herself for the meeting and was ready to go out in 30 minutes.

Ten minutes before the time she was supposed to meet Ron she apparated herself outside Flourish and Blotts. Nobody was there yet so she decided to browse the shop a little until someone showed up. Five minutes later she saw Ron approaching. She ran outside to meet up with him. They didn't have much time to catch up though, since all the others had started to show up.

Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione had been closer than ever after the war. Hermione and Ron had tried dating for a while but realised they were far better off as bet friends. Even Harry and Ginny had got back together after the war, but time had changed the both of them and they didn't have that spark anymore between them, so they remained good friends.

The four of them enjoyed catching up while drinking a cup of coffee once in a while. Ron started leading the way to a coffee shop were they were going to hear Ron's urgent news.

When they were seated and settled inside the coffee shop, Ron immediately began to explain why he had called them there in the first place. "Ok. So all of you know that many witches and wizards died during the war, a year ago", started Ron. They all nodded to show they understood."Well, the Ministry thinks that it's about time that people started getting married and having children, to restore the wizarding community", continued to explain Ron.

By the end of that explanation the other three wizards were gaping at him. Ginny was the one who broke the silence. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ron gave her a worried smile and then proceeded in his explanation. "It means that wizards and witches between the ages of 16 and 30 have to get married in a year's time. After the year is over and all witches and wizards are married, every married couple will be expected to conceive a child in another year's time".

"WHAT?" they screamed together. Ginny started muttering, "There must be a way out of it", while Hermione, who was always the logical one, said, "This means that we have to find a partner and get married in a year. It'll be difficult, but I think we can manage."

At those words Ron looked even more worried."No, Ginny there's no way out. It's like a new Wizarding Law. You see, here comes the bad news…", and with that he took a huge sip of coffee and started biting his nails. "Wasn't this bad enough!" yelled Harry looking skeptical."Unfortunately, no", replied Ron, not realising that Harry was being sarcastic. "The bad news is that the Ministry gets to decide who your partners will be."

"You have got to be kidding me!" they all shouted at the top of their lungs. "They have to know that they'll probably ruin our lives!" argued Ginny, her face looking as red as her hair. "How do you know this anyway? The Daily Prophet hasn't said anything about it", asked Harry. "Good question Harry", said Ron. "Since Dad works at the Ministry, he got to know about it before the rest of the wizarding community, so he told me to tell you."

During this whole speech Hermione had been doing some hard thinking and had come up with a very important question. "But how is the Ministry going to choose our partners? I mean, for all we know, they might choose someone we don't even know. That'll be a weird marriage!"

Ron had been listening carefully to what she was saying and by the end of her speech; he was giving her a reassuring smile. "The Ministry is going to be performing some spells to find out who everybody's soul mate is. That way, you'll be marrying someone similar to you", reassured Ron.

"More details will be given to us in the letter everyone's receiving tomorrow. Until then, I suggest everyone should go rest after this shocking news!" All three of them nodded. "Can we at least meet up tomorrow, to open our letters together?" suggested Ginny. Everyone agreed and after bidding goodbyes, they all apparated to their own homes.

At the same time, at Malfoy Manor, Narcissa Malfoy was telling her son the same news and he was as happy about it as the other four.

_**Author's **__**Note: And here's the chapter of my new story! Hope you enjoyed it! Please take the time to review since they really help a lot.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_Draco's POV_

Draco was sitting in the family room at Malfoy Manor, drinking a glass of fire whiskey, when he saw his mother,Narcissa Malfoy,entering as gracefully as always and smiling warmly at him before sitting down."Hello, Draco", she said in a motherly sort of voice.

Narcissa had changed a lot since the end of the Second Wizarding Malfoy had been killed by a group of Aurors during the battle, so she was free to live her life the way she wanted, without being scared of her family getting hurt by Lord Voldemort.

"Hello, are you on this fine afternoon?", replied immediately realised that her son was in a very good mood and she started to feel even guiltier for having to be the one to ruin it by the news she was going to give him. "I'm fine Draco, what about you? You seem to be in a really jolly mood. Something happened?"

Draco smiled at that. His mother knew him like no other and he was happy for this. Before the war ended, Draco couldn't really have the mother and son relationship the other kids had. His father was as cold as ice and didn't accept any loving relationships in his family. He wanted discipline, and so, he often hit Draco even for the most useless things. So once the war ended, Draco and Narcissa tried to make up for the years they lost and their relationship was now stronger than ever.

"Yes, great has happened. Remember Astoria Greengrass? She's Daphne Greengrass' younger sister and she was in Slytherin."At his mother's nod, Draco continued. "Well, I've been trying to win her over for the last 3 months. I mean, she's perfect! She's pureblood and she comes from a very noble, magical family. She's very good-looking and she's only about two years younger than me! And today she finally accepted to be my girlfriend! Isn't this great news, mother?"

During Draco's whole speech, Narcissa had been unusually quiet and Draco didn't fail to notice. "Everything alright, Mother?" he asked her. "Draco, there's something important I need to tell you", began nodded at this, to show her he was listening, so she continued. "You know about some of our connections with the Ministry?" she asked. "Yes, of course I do, mother", he replied. "Well, word just came to me a couple of minutes ago, from one of these connections, about a new law the Ministry just passed. Nearly no one knows about it yet, except some Ministry workers, because they're going to make it official tomorrow. I decided to tell you before so you will be prepared", she explained very seriously.

"Mother, what is it? You're scaring me a little now. What law is this?" asked Draco, worried by his mother's tone of voice. "Draco, the Ministry has found it wise to pass a Marriage Law", said Narcissa. "Well, that isn't that bad…I mean, me and Astoria will just have to get married earlier. I don't see any problems with that." Draco couldn't see why this news was worrying his mother so much. "Draco, you don't understand the gravity of the situation. Let me explain better", Narcissa said. At this Draco nodded. "Have you ever heard of The Soul mate Love Spell?" she asked. Draco paled visibly at this but nodded nonetheless. "The Ministry are going to use this spell to find everyone's 'll have a year's time to marry each other. After the year is over, and all witches and wizards between the age of 16 and 30 are married, every married couple will be expected to conceive a child in another years time", finished Narcissa.

While Narcissa was speaking, Draco had stood up and started pacing up and down. "THEY CAN'T DO THAT!" he finally shouted. "I'm afraid they can, dear", replied see, Draco, the Ministry noticed that the Wizarding Community has drastically diminished after the War. So, the Ministry thinks that it's about time that people started getting married and having children, to restore it."

"That's insane…." Draco started muttering to himself. He suddenly straightened up and turned to his mother with a very serious expression on his face. "Mother, who exactly is my soul mate?" he asked. "Sadly, I don't know that Draco…no one knows, except the people performing the spell. Tomorrow they're publishing an article about it in the Morning Daily Prophet to warn all the others who don't know about it. Then, in the evening, you're going to be receiving a letter, explaining why they're doing this and some other details, plus, the name of the girl you're going to be marrying", explained Narcissa.

A question suddenly came to Draco's mind. "What if I refuse?" he asked his sighed. She knew he would ask that sooner or later. "I suggest you don't do that. Anyone who refuses to marry his soul mate after a year, will have their wand broken and be sent to live in the Muggle Community. I know you don't hate muggles that much anymore, but I don't think you'd want to go live as one", finished Narcissa.

Draco sighed in defeat. He had no other choice. He was going to have to marry someone he didn't like. It could even be someone he didn't even know! And life had been going so well for him!

Narcissa, feeling pity for her son, got up and went over next to him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be alright, Draco. You'll see. Now you'll better go and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day!", and with that she saw her now gloomy son, stand up and walking slowly up to his room. "Why does life have to be so cruel?" thought Narcissa.

_Hermione's POV_

The day after came too quickly for Hermione's liking. She woke up, wondering why she was feeling like the world had suddenly ended, when she remembered of the new law Ron had talked to them about. It's not that she was currently seeing anybody, but she found it completely unfair of the Ministry to just meddle into their life.

She knew that after she and her friends received the letters this evening, their lives were going to change forever. She suddenly felt as if a rock had settled itself in her stomach. She was going to have to get married at 18 years of age and become a mother at 19! Marriage had never been in her mind before and neither had nursing a child. She, of course, wanted to get married later in life and possibly even have kids, but only after having become a fully educational Healer at 's and done something with her life. This was way too early for her and since this was way to much for her to handle, she ran to the bathroom and threw up everything she could have had in her stomach, five minutes after waking up.

She went downstairs to make a cup of coffee while waiting for the Morning Daily Prophet to arrive so she could read about the law in a little more detail. After five minutes of quietly sipping her coffee, she heard an insisting tapping on her window. When she looked up she saw a little Eagle owl carrying the Morning Daily Prophet. Hermione opened the window for it, put the money she owed in the pouch attached to her leg and took the Daily Prophet.

The article about the new Ministry law was published on the front page and kept going on page 3, 5 and started reading in attempt to find some interesting bit that she didn't know yet. Unfortunately, she had no such luck since Ron had already mentioned everything that was written down:

**The Ministry of Magic's New, Drastic Law**

_This morning, the whole Wizarding Community received one hell of a Shacklebot, the Minister of Magic, gave the news of a Marriage Law, today at eight in the morning. "Sadly, many people lost their lives during the Second Wizarding War, resulting in the diminish of the Wizarding Community. Thus, we came up with a law that requires all witches and wizards between the ages of 16 and 30 to get married within a year", started the speech, Minister himself told everyone not to worry about who to marry. "There will be no need to worry about who to marry since I've hired five Expert Ministry Officials to find you the perfect spouse. These Ministry Officials will be using a spell to determine your soul mate, thus making these marriages easier." Many wizards and witches are appalled by the extreme measures the Minister is willing to take to revive the Wizarding Community. So, how exactly are these marriages going to help in restoring the Wizarding Community? Easy…this new law also states that after every witch and wizard is married, every couple will be expected to conceive a child within the next year. Couples who will be having problems in conceiving the child will be more than welcome to take all the time they need, until successful. The Minister refused to give any more information about this law until everyone receives their letter this evening at approximately six o'clock. The name of everyone's soul mate will also be enclosed in this letter. For news about the letters, stay tuned for the Evening Daily Prophet. Could this idea possibly work? Maybe it is after all, for the best…_

_Ruby Prewett_

"For the best?" Hermione thought, appalled. "How can people think having the Ministry meddle with their lives be 'for the best'?" continued thinking to herself Hermione. She sighed and put the paper down. She would just have to wait until six o'clock then, to find out who she's going to be spending the rest of her life with.

She knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything useful until she received the letter. So instead, she decided to spend the day with Ginny, at her cottage. Perhaps the others could meet them there to open the letters together…With that thought in mind, Hermione grabbed some floo powder and left to go to Ginny's cottage.

_Draco's POV_

"I can't believe how bloody stupid, the Minister is acting!" raged Draco. He had been shouting for nearly fifteen minutes now and he could see that his two best friends were getting irritated with him. The day after he had received the news, he flooed his two friends and told them to come to his manor so they could discuss the law. "Draco, mate…you have got to calm down! Raging about it isn't going to change a thing! What's done is done…there's nothing we can do about it now", Blaise Zabini said, trying to talk some sense in his friends head.

"Draco", started Pansy, trying to console Draco. "We all know that the thing you're mad about most is that you had just managed to get Astoria to be your girlfriend. I, for one, completely understand your situation being in it myself. I have to break it off with Theodore Nott because of this new law", she finished. Pansy and Draco were off worst, since they were currently in a relationship, so they had to break it didn't care so much since he was a player and had no long relationships.

"Can you believe what that reporter wrote?" asked Draco. Both his friends shook their heads. They honestly couldn't see how this law could be 'for the best'. No one was enjoying marrying someone he didn't want. "At what time did the reporter say we're going to receive the letters?" asked Blaise after a while of everyone staying quiet. "At approximately six o'clock", replied Pansy. "What are we going to do until six o'clock? There's no bloody way we're doing work…I'm too nervous to work. Don't want to end up selling our company by mistake!" she continued seriously.

"Tell you what", started Draco, "We could play Quidditch for a little while and then go to Diagon Alley for a coffee. We could wait for the letters there. So, what do you guys say?" They both nodded. There was nothing else they could do. So with that the group of friends grabbed their brooms and started what was going to be a very long day.

_Ginny's POV_

It was ten minutes to six and the group of four were waiting anxiously for the letters to arrive. "God, time seems to pass really slowly today", thought Ginny. Even though she was supposed to be anxious like all the others, she was also a little excited to see who she'll be matched to.

Suddenly, the clock chimed. It was six o'clock. Everyone tensed…everyone knew what was coming. Harry stood up and began pacing up and down, Hermione started biting her nails and Ron started to sweat like a pig. "Ron, do you need a tissue…or a towel?" asked Ginny seeing her sweating brother.

"Do you think this is the time to be funny?" snapped Ron. Ginny was taken aback by the harshness of his tone and suddenly realised her brother was scared. "I'm sorry, Ron", she said trying to reassure him a little by putting one of her hands on his. He relaxed a little at this. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that…it's just that…what if I get paired with someone I hate? My life would be a disaster!" he suddenly yelled. They all kept quiet at this. Everyone had thought about it and found it better to just forget it…at least until they found out who their spouse was.

They had all started to relax when a tapping was heard on the window. The tension built up again and Ginny stood up to let the owls in. There were four of them, for each one of her friends. She watched as everyone took their respective owl and took the letter. With shaking fingers, due to nervousness and excitement, she took her letter. She barely noticed all the owls fly away as she looked at her friends.

They all seemed as nervous as her, if not more. "So…do we open them all together or not?" she asked wanting to get it over with. Ron was the first to reply saying, "I think we'd better open them all together, then tell each other who we have." Everyone nodded at this suggestion, so Ginny opened her letter. She didn't pay a glance to the information about the new law, instead reading the bold sentence. Her heart sank when she saw who her spouse was and she didn't even notice the others' faces turning white as she sank to the ground, hoping it was all a nightmare. The letter dropped to the floor and the bold sentence written on it was clear:

_**Ginevra Weasley, your soul mate is Blaise Zabini.**_

_Harry's POV_

Harry noticed Ginny sinking to the ground, her face pale and her eyes closed. He momentarily wondered who her spouse could be to turn Ginny Weasley like that. "It won't be long until I find out", he suddenly remembered that he still had to find out who he was marrying, so he looked down at his letter and opened it.

He didn't think anything important would be written in the letter that he didn't already know, so he just skipped ahead to the bold sentence at the bottom. He could swear that his heart stopped beating as he saw what was written. He kept staring blankly at the horrible sentence:

_**Harry Potter, your soul mate is Pansy Parkinson.**_

_Ron's POV_

"Why is everyone looking like that?" he thought as he saw Harry's blank look and Ginny's sick one. "I don't think they liked their soul mates…" he kept thinking. He got even more scared to open his letter. He plucked up some courage and opened his letter. He decided to read the rest of the letter after he found out who his soul mate was.

He found the bold sentence and started to feel as if he was going to faint. "Not that lunatic!" he thought frantically. "Well, I guess it could have been worse. It's not that I don't like her…we're good friends…but to marry her was another thing. He kept re-reading the sentence getting more worried by the minute.

_**Ronald Weasley, your soul mate is Luna Lovegood.**_

_Hermione's POV_

"Their looks really aren't helping", thought Hermione worriedly. She was the only one left to open her letter. Now she wished she had been the first to open it so that she wouldn't have to look at her friends' faces. Ginny had sank to the ground with her eyes closed as if she was trying to forget something horrible, Harry was staring blankly at his letter as if he couldn't believe what was happening and Ron was reading the same thing over and over again looking worried.

"No use fighting over it", she started to think. "I'll have to open it sooner or later." With that thought in mind she quickly torn open the letter before she could change her mind. She noticed that there was some information written before the name of her soul mate. Being the know it all that she was, she decided to read it.

_Dear ,_

_As you've probably already heard, the Ministry has passed a new law. This law involves marriage. You'll have a year to marry the man listed at the bottom of the letter. After the year is over and you are safely married to him, you and your spouse will be expected to conceive a child within another year. Do not worry if you have problems doing so. You'll have all the time you need, until successful. We'll have you know that refusal to follow this rule, which after all is for the better good of the Wizarding Community, will get you nothing good. You'll have your wand taken and you'll be sent to the Muggle Community with no chances of being admitted amongst us again. We, by no means, are telling you this to scare you. We simply want everyone to be warned beforehand. In the next couple of days you are to expect a booklet to be sent to you with the name: __**Marriage Law: GIRLS**__. This booklet will have all the information needed to guide you through your relationship before and after the marriage takes place. Do not worry about happiness in your future marriage. We assure that that's exactly what you will get considering the fact that you will be married to your soul mate._

_Hoping that you are well,_

_Mathilda Stewart._

_**Hermione Granger, your soul mate is Draco Malfoy.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hermione's POV_

She was feeling dizzy and she was sure that she was going to faint. She couldn't believe what she had just read. She looked at the sentence again to make sure that she had read correctly. She felt herself being filled with more dread when she saw that she had made no mistakes; she had read quite correctly.

She couldn't get that horrible sentence out of her head. _**Hermione Granger, your soul mate is Draco Malfoy. **_It was just impossible! How could she, a smart and brave Muggle-born, be the soul mate of Draco Malfoy, a spoilt and arrogant git?

_Draco's POV_

He could officially say that he had never played worse Quidditch than he did today. But who could blame him? He had spent all day thinking about the letter he would be receiving shortly. His best friends didn't really help him get rid of his nerves since they seemed as distracted as he was.

They had all stopped playing Quidditch at four o'clock and had been too anxious to go for a coffee at Diagon Alley, as they had originally planned. Instead they stayed at Malfoy Manor, trying but failing, to play Exploding Snap.

"Okay guys", started Pansy, "I think we can stop acting as if we're playing Exploding Snap and start worrying a little about the letters we're going to receive. There is, after all, only ten minutes left until we receive them." Her words caused her two best friends to immediately drop their cards on the table and turn to look at her, eyes filled with worry and nervousness.

"I just can't help but think that these ten minutes will be our last minutes of freedom…our last minutes of living life as we want to and not as they make us", said Draco. The other two nodded in understanding. That's how they were all feeling and they all kept quiet for a while, all of them filled with thoughts about the letter.

Blaise suddenly spoke up for the first time since they had started playing Snap. "Look guys, let's just face it. I think it's pretty obvious that we're not going to like who they match us up with. We could only like someone if we chose them ourselves, and that is not the case. We're most probably going to feel depressed and I think it'll always be better if we have our friends by our side. So whoever we get…we stick together", ended Blaise.

Pansy suddenly stood up and jumped on Blaise and Draco, hugging them as forcefully as she could. "Blaise is right! We're going to stick together, no matter what! As soon as we receive the letters we're going to open them together and tell each other who we've got! There's no hiding the envelopes!" She made sure both Blaise and Draco had agreed before she let go and sat back down.

She hadn't been sitting for two minutes when she jumped back up and pointed a trembling finger at the window. "There are three owls coming this way!" she screamed. Draco and Blaise both stood up, looking in the direction her finger was pointing and Blaise moved forward to open the window for the owls. They all came in, dropped the letters and flew back out.

None of the three best friends seemed to want to take the letters. Draco was the first to step forward. "What's the point in staring at them? They're not going to open by themselves, are they?" After that, even Pansy and Blaise stepped forward to collect their letters.

"Alright guys…the letters are finally here. Remember what we agreed on! We all open the letters at the same time and once we know who we're partnered with, we tell each other", said Pansy, while giving her letter a nervous glance. They all nodded at this. And after Pansy counted to three, all opened their respective letters.

He was the first to look at his soul mate's name since he simply skipped the rest of the letter. As soon as he saw who it was though he started wishing he hadn't. He couldn't believe it. Surely the Ministry can do mistakes, right? Because no one could be stupid enough to pair him up with…_her_. He looked at the sentence again, just in case. It hadn't changed.

_**Draco Malfoy, your soul mate is Hermione Granger.**_

_Pansy's POV_

"Draco doesn't look too good", was her first thought as she opened her letter. "Knowing him, he read who it is without reading the letter first." As she looked down at her letter though, she started to understand him better. The letter was quite long and after the amount of time she'd been waiting to know who she was paired up with, it just didn't make sense to waste precious time reading things she probably already knew. "Maybe later", she conceded and hurried down to the bottom of the letter were a bold sentence had caught her eye.

Taking a deep breath, she read the sentence….and almost fainted with shock and dread. What the sentence said was one of her biggest nightmares. "Not him! Anyone but him!" she thought frantically. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself as best as she could. "Okay… there's no bloody way in hell that the Ministry's been stupid enough to pair me up with him! I mean seriously, it's common news to everyone that Slytherins and Gryffindors simply hated each other. This rule hadn't changed… not even after the war. Some views had changed. Slytherin wasn't a prejudiced house anymore; they accepted muggleborns now.

She opened her eyes and risked another peak at the bold sentence. Unfortunately for her, it hadn't changed. She kept on staring at the horrible sentence with growing dread, anger and frustration.

_**Pansy Parkinson, your soul mate is Harry Potter.**_

_Blaise's POV_

"You'd think your two best friends would try and give you encouraging looks while you're reading the name of your dreaded spouse, but no! Draco looks as if he's going to be sick any second and Pansy looks as if she's been forced to eat a lemon…really encouraging!", thought Blaise sulkily. It was with this thought that he returned to reading his letter.

Being a man who likes to know all facts available before plunging to the end, he decided to read the entire letter. Taking one last look at his friends, he started reading.

_Dear ,_

_As you've probably already heard, the Ministry has passed a new law. This law involves marriage. You'll have a year to marry the man listed at the bottom of the letter. After the year is over and you are safely married to him, you and your spouse will be expected to conceive a child within another year. Do not worry if you have problems doing so. You'll have all the time you need, until successful. We'll have you know that refusal to follow this rule, which after all is for the better good of the Wizarding Community, will get you nothing good. You'll have your wand taken and you'll be sent to the Muggle Community with no chances of being admitted amongst us again. We, by no means, are telling you this to scare you. We simply want everyone to be warned beforehand. In the next couple of days you are to expect a booklet to be sent to you with the name: __**Marriage Law: **__ booklet will have all the information needed to guide you through your relationship before and after the marriage takes place. Do not worry about happiness in your future marriage. We assure that that's exactly what you will get considering the fact that you will be married to your soul mate._

_Hoping that you are well,_

_Mathilda Stewart._

_**Blaise Zabini, your soul mate is Ginny Weasley.**_

He almost fell down from the sofa he was sitting on when reading the sentence. "IT CAN'T BE!" he yelled, causing the other two to look up shocked. He personally didn't care if they thought of him as a lunatic, as long as someone would tell him there had been a mistake in his soul mate.

He wasn't as prejudiced as he used to be. He didn't hate muggleborns or the so called 'blood-traitors' but it had never even crossed his mind that he'd have to marry one! Now that was simply crossing the line!

The others were still looking at him but not in a shocked way any more and he knew he had to be the first to share who his mate was. With a big sigh, he prepared himself for human pandemonium.

He tried to give them his most reassuring smile and laughing weakly he said, "Well, I'm definitely surprised by the way things are going!" He knew that they didn't believe he was as airy as he was making out to be but they didn't pressure him. Sighing again, he dropped the act and simply came out with it. "They paired me up with Ginny Weasley. She's my soul mate".

Draco's mouth dropped open a foot or so making him look like a fish while Pansy gasped loudly. Looking at them, he saw mixed emotions in their eyes. Pansy was looking at him with sympathy and reassurance while Draco was looking at him with an expression of pity. He just shrugged at him, knowing that his two best friends were going to be there for him and make everything better.

After a few more minutes of silence, Blaise's dread turned to curiosity. He longed to know to whom his friends had been paired up with. Finally he decided to just ask them. So, enough about me. Tell me about you…who have you got?

He immediately knew, by the looks on their faces, that it wasn't anyone they would have chosen. Pansy was the first to speak up. "I got the Boy Who Lived", she spat. At Blaise's shocked look she started to explain. "It's not that I have anything against the fact that he lived; actually I'm quite glad that he killed the Dark Lord…it's just that…I never really liked him. The way he acted as if he was better than Draco!"

Blaise smiled at this. "Well, I don't think he's actually like that. I mean, I don't think he acts as if he's better than everyone and everything. He just thinks he's better than you and most especially Draco because of how much you two used to tease him and his friends…and I don't mean JUST tease." At this Pansy had the decency to blush and look a little ashamed; and surprisingly even Draco turned a little red.

"I guess we shouldn't have called his friend Mudblood…that was wrong", said Pansy. They were all surprised when Draco turned even redder. "Is there something you're not telling us?" asked him Blaise. Draco started to look very uncomfortable and they immediately knew it had something to do with his soul mate.

"You do know that you still haven't told us who you're paired up with, right?" asked Pansy. Draco only nodded in response. "Well…" urged Pansy. Draco simply handed her his letter. Draco certainly didn't like whoever it was if it could make him speechless. He looked back at Pansy, who was looking at the letter as if it had spurted horns.

"I don't think this is really fair. Mind telling me who Draco got? Is it really bad enough to cause you both to go speechless?" asked Blaise. Pansy nodded and Draco looked down, suddenly finding the carpeted floor interesting. Seeing that he wasn't going to get any answers from the two, he simply went over to Pansy and took Draco's letter from her hand.

A quick look showed him what the both of them were speechless about. "You got paired up with Granger? No wonder you turned so red when we started talking about you calling her a Mudblood! Wow…you're in for a very weird marriage, my friend." Draco finally looked up, furiously glaring at him.

"How could they have paired me up with her?" whined Draco. "She's such a know it all; she's going to drive me bananas! Not to forget her lovely best friends! They're going to try to kill me for every fight I'll have with her… and trust me; they're going to be a lot!" Pansy went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"We've all ended up with lousy partners", started Pansy, "we're going to need each other to get through this… it's the only way." They all nodded, knowing that she was right. "Now that we know who we're stuck to, we just need to wait for the booklet", said Pansy.

_Harry's POV_

They had all been understanding of each other. After all, that's what best friends do. They all had it pretty badly but he couldn't help but think that his was worst. He couldn't, for the life of him, imagine himself being with Pansy Parkinson of all people. He hadn't seen her in a long time and he hadn't planned on seeing her any time soon…up until that bloody letter. Now he had no choice!

It had been three days since everyone received the Ministry letter. An article on the Daily Prophet said that they were all to expect the information booklet today. He wasn't as anxious as he was the day the letters had to arrive, but he wasn't calm either. Ron was supposed to be joining him in five minutes so they could go through the booklet together.

A loud knock distracted him from his thoughts. He stood up to open it and saw it was Ron. He had two booklets in his hand and a closer look told him they were the Ministry booklets. "Where did you get those from?" he asked.

"Two owls were coming to knock on your window when I arrived. I got them for you so it'll be quicker", replied Ron. Harry nodded and led Ron to the living room, where he had prepared two glasses and a bottle of Firewhiskey. "Let's get reading then said Ron once they were seated. He gave Harry a booklet and opened his own.

The booklet read:

_**In this booklet there is all the information you need about this new Marriage Law. Anything not mentioned before will be written in bold.**_

_You have a year to get to know your partner and get married. Failing to do this in the given time will cause nothing good. Your wand will be taken and you will be kicked out of the Magical Community, with no chance of being accepted among us again._

_After getting married, you will have another year to conceive a child with your partner. Refusal to do so will result in the same consequences mentioned before. Do not worry if you have problems conceiving. You'll be given all the time you need, until successful._

_**It is of great important that all man participating in this new law, put in action a proper marriage proposal to the partner (this includes ring). You'll have a week from the day you receive this booklet to present this proposal to the female partner. Wedding dates are not important for now.**_

_**Under no condition is harming your partner accepted. There isn't any type of punishment for that but be warned that when your partner is feeling any type of pain, you will feel it too. It will be like a sort of bond.**_

_**The two partners cannot stay away from each other for longer than three days, without starting to feel the symptoms of exhaustion.**_

_**Cheating on your assigned partner is not acceptable so we must ask you to end any current relationships you might have. Cheating will cause huge, painful pimples to sprout out in every part of your body (it is not very pleasurable so be warned).**_

_These are all the necessary rules you need to know for the good of yourself, your partner and your soon to be marriage._

_We, at the Ministry wish you good luck for your future marriage!_

"Well this is just great! A bloody proposal! I have to go looking for Pansy bloody Parkinson to PROPOSE! Do you think the girls know about this proposal?" asked Harry.

"I doubt it", answered Ron, "That wouldn't really make sense. The girls are going to think we're bloody idiots; proposing to something we don't even want!"

Harry nodded, agreeing with Ron fully. What was Parkinson going to think when she finds him at her house… proposing, with even a bloody ring! Even imagining it cause him to shiver! Something else that was disturbing him immensely was the whole conceiving a child thing. That meant he actually had to have sex with Pansy Parkinson… why couldn't the bad news end?

_**Author's Note: So, as I think you've noticed, I removed all chapters and uploaded them again. I hope this time no words will get cut off! Don't forget to review! **____** xxx**_


	4. Chapter 4

_Hermione's POV_

The booklets were finally here. She was sitting in her living room with Ginny, ready to read and discuss all the notes they were going to check out. Hermione and Ginny had been closer than ever these past few days. The news of who they were required to marry had shocked them both greatly and, with both of them being girls, they hung together in this extremely hard time.

"Shall we start then?" asked Ginny after Hermione had brought them both coffees. Hermione nodded and sitting near Ginny, she opened the booklet and started reading.

_**In this booklet there is all the information you need about this new Marriage Law. Anything not mentioned before will be written in bold.**_

_You have a year to get to know your partner and get married. Failing to do this in the given time will cause nothing good. Your wand will be taken and you will be kicked out of the Magical Community, with no chance of being accepted among us again._

_After getting married, you will have another year to conceive a child with your partner. Refusal to do so will result in the same consequences mentioned before. Do not worry if you have problems conceiving. You'll be given all the time you need, until successful._

_**You are to be warned that you are most definitely going to be surprised by what the man are going to do later on this week. DO NOT BE ALARMED! MEN HAVE NOT GONE MAD!**_

_**Under no condition is harming your partner accepted. There isn't any type of punishment for that but be warned that when your partner is feeling any type of pain, you will feel it too. It will be like a sort of bond.**_

_**The two partners cannot stay away from each other for longer than three days, without starting to feel the symptoms of exhaustion.**_

_**Cheating on your assigned partner is not acceptable so we must ask you to end any current relationships you might have. Cheating will cause huge, painful pimples to sprout out in every part of your body (it is not very pleasurable so be warned).**_

_These are all the necessary rules you need to know for the good of yourself, your partner and your soon to be marriage._

_We, at the Ministry wish you good luck for your future marriage!_

"Isn't this lovely?" asked Ginny sarcastically. "And what surprise do you think we should expect from man? I don't think it's anything ordinary, judging by the huge warning they wrote!" Hermione nodded, totally agreeing with her best friend.

"We'll just have to wait and see! I hope it's not anything public…" said Hermione starting to look worried. She might have accepted that she was stuck with Malfoy for a partner, but that didn't mean that she liked it and that she wanted the whole, wide world to know. Ginny looked worried too but she pulled herself together and smiled reassuringly at her. Hermione knew that Ginny was very upset with this upcoming marriage. From what she could understand, Blaise had never been that friendly to Ginny and had also called her a 'blood-traitor' a couple of times. She also knew that he was best friends with Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, which meant nothing good.

"Don't worry, Ginny. We'll be okay as long as we stick with the other two. We have to keep strong and help each other during this difficult time!" encouraged Hermione. "I know how you're feeling; it's the same with me. I know that you are not happy with the partner they chose for you… do you think I wanted them to choose Malfoy for me? But we're stuck with them so we have to keep strong. We'll be fine as long as we have each other! And never forget Harry and Ron", finished Hermione. Ginny smiled at this.

_Draco's POV_

"THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'M PROPOSING TO GRANGER!" yelled Draco. Blaise and Draco were sitting in the gardens of Malfoy Manor. They had just finished reading the Ministry booklets and both were very angry about the proposal rule. They couldn't understand, for the life of them, why it was even necessary.

"I'm with you on this mate", said Blaise. "But unfortunately there's not much we can do about it, unless we want to end up living in the Muggle Community." They both shuddered at this thought. "Look mate", started Blaise standing up, "I'm going to buy a ring for Ginny Weasley… better get it over with and you should do the same!" With that he apparated out.

After a lot of thought from Draco's part he decided to go and buy a ring for Granger. They only had a week to do this proposal and, after all, a week doesn't last forever!

_Harry's POV_

"Calm, Harry, calm", he reminded himself. He had decided to just get the bloody proposal over with instead of waiting till the end of the week like Ron was going to do. What was the point of delaying anyway? It would only cause you to spend a week worrying about this and that. No, this way was much better.

Taking a very deep breath, Harry knocked on the door. He started thinking on how Parkinson was going to look when she opens the door and finds _him_ waiting for her with a ring box in his hand. He was shaken out of these thoughts when he heard footsteps on the other side, coming closer to the door. It was now or never.

_Pansy's POV_

She had been worrying all day about the surprise mentioned on the booklet she received. Whatever it was she knew it was going to be big judging by the warning they wrote. She was looking over the booklet again, checking that she hadn't missed anything, when she heard a knock on her door.

"Who can it be? I'm not expecting anyone till the afternoon", she thought while standing up and heading towards the door. When she finally opened it she got the shock of her life. At her door was Harry bloody Potter with a small box in his hand and looking as nervous as hell.

"Um…hi", he said. "Look, I know you're probably busy and I swear this won't take long. I wouldn't even be doing it if the Ministry wasn't asking all man to do it. I think you probably know that we've been partnered together for the Marriage Law…anyway the Ministry want all man to propose to their female spouses within this week…so I guess here it goes…"

She was still shocked at his appearance on her doorstep but she still managed to understand what he had said even though he had babbled endlessly. Suddenly, she saw him get the box from behind his back, kneeling on one knee and opening it. Inside it was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. It had a thick, silver band and a round opal in the middle surrounded with a small diamond on each side of it. Her mouth was open in shock, not only at the proposal but also at the beauty of the ring.

The first thing she told Harry was, "I might not like you Potter but I have to admit that you've got taste! It's beautiful". Harry stood up at hearing those words, picked up the ring and slid it on her finger.

"Will you marry me?" he asked. It wasn't as if she had a choice but since it was a proposal, she guessed he had to ask. "Well, Potter I don't exactly have a choice do I…so, yes I will marry you", she said.

Harry stood up. "Well… he came all the way here I guess it would be rude not to invite him in. And I guess we have to talk about this mess sooner or later; and not to forget the exhaustion symptoms. And since I finally decided to start studying as an Auror I can't afford to be too tired." She decided to ask him.

"Uh… you want to come in?" she finally asked.

_Harry's POV_

"Um… you want to come in?" Harry had no idea what he should do. Now that the proposal was over he wanted to go home and rest; but he didn't want to seem rude and they really had to talk about it one of these days. After all they still had to decide the wedding date.

"Yeah, sure", he answered and followed Pansy inside. He had to hand it to her, she had a nice house. Not to elegant but not to casual either. He liked it the most because it didn't make him feel uncomfortable, like big houses usually did.

She led him to what seemed to be the sitting room and he sat down. "Look, Potter", she started, "we have to talk about this sooner or later, and as long as you're here I don't see why we can't do it now. Let me start by telling you that I don't like you and if I actually had a choice, I wouldn't have chosen you", she stopped to see if he had anything to say to that.

He didn't blame her. If it was for him, he wouldn't have even thought about her! "I agree with you", he said, "If the choice had been mine I wouldn't be here right now. But, unfortunately, the choice wasn't ours so we have to get married weather we like it or not. It's because of that reason that I'm going to ask of you to call me Harry."

He saw Pansy raise an eyebrow and thus hastened to explain. "Look, I don't like you... I could actually say I hated you, but this is already going to be a weird marriage, do you really want it to be weirder by calling each other by our surnames? I'm not saying any kind of stupidity about wanting a real marriage, because I'm not dense enough to think that could actually happen. I just don't want to feel as if I'm married to my professor calling me 'Potter'. Not to mention, that after we get married it will be weird calling you 'Potter' too". Pansy laughed a little at this last part.

"I know you're right, Pot – I mean Harry. It would be a nightmare come true having my husband calling me by my surname! You know what I hate most about this stupid law?" she asked. Harry shook his head. "I've been imagining ever since I was seven how my own wedding would be like. I had recently been flower girl for my cousin's wedding so I knew a lot more about weddings than other kids my age did. I had gone to all the rehearsals and all the wedding dress searches. I loved it! I used to constantly dream about the day were I would be the one with the lovely, white dress walking to my soon-to-be husband. My husband would be my prince. We'd get married and then after we kiss we'd dance all night long with the crowd cheering us on!"

Harry saw the dreamy look on her face and started feeling sorry for her. He knew what it felt like having your dreams crushed. That had happened to him loads of times with the Dursleys. He knew though that in Pansy's case, it was different. The dream was way bigger than the minor dreams he used to have at the Dursleys. He wasn't going to say that he had imagined all the stuff girls imagine having in a wedding, but he wasn't going to hide the fact that when he was at Hogwarts he used to imagine his life after the war with Voldemort. Somehow his imaginations always had a wedding with the girl he loved; now it was all ruthlessly thorn from him.

"Listen, Pansy… I can't do anything about the law they threw at us. I'm not your prince and I can't do all the stuff you probably dreamed you'd be doing with your husband. But I can't see why you can't have the perfect wedding you've always dreamed of!"

Pansy had been listening with her eyes open wide. "You'd really do that for me? That would mean so much! I'd have the dress I've always dreamed of wearing and we'd have loads of guests and…" she trailed off after seeing the cheeky smile on Harry's face. Harry saw her blushing. She really looked cute when she blushed like that; he couldn't believe he just thought that. "I know you think I'm a little girly girl but this really has been one of the biggest dreams of my life and having it come true…I can't help but feel excited!"

Harry smiled at her. He was still trying to get the thought of Pansy looking cute when blushing out of his head. "I'm glad I could make someone's dreams come true. Oh…and I don't mind if you act like that. It's nice to see you're not made of stone after all and that you're not always mean." Maybe this won't be as bad as it seems.

_**Author's Note: Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please take the time to review **____** xxx**_


	5. Chapter 5

_Draco's POV_

He was starting to give up. He had been looking at rings for the whole afternoon and he still hadn't found the right one. It was the fifteenth ring the sales man was showing him. This one was too extravagant. They were all wrong. He couldn't picture Granger wearing any of the rings he had seen. Some were too simple for a know-it-all like her. Others were just too much. He thought Granger would like a more classic ring.

He wasn't saying that he knew Granger. As a matter of fact, he knew nothing about her. But somehow he knew that she wouldn't like a ring that was too dressy and neither too bland. Suddenly he saw it! The perfect ring! And it really was perfect. He could already picture Granger wearing it!

The band was classic and elegant and there was a part of it had a gentle curve. The gem was oval-shaped and it was a rich ruby surrounded on both sides by little diamonds on top of each other. He knew he had to get it, whatever the prize!

"Excuse me, sir", he started to say, "I can't help but admire that lovely ring. Could you be kind enough to get it out for me so I can see it better?" When it came to impress people with good manners, he was a champion. He watched as the sales man got out the perfect ring. He picked it up and started to examine it. Now that he was looking at it closely he loved it even more! The red colour of the ruby was what he like best… it reminded him of what a Gryffindor Granger used to be.

"How much are you charging for this fine ring, sir?" he asked. It didn't really matter since he was getting it anyway but it always did good to know before paying. As the sales man told him the price Draco's jaw dropped open in surprise and disdain. The ring was only a thousand Galleons.

"Sir, are you sure the diamonds and ruby are real?" He knew it was wrong to doubt a probably experienced sales man but he couldn't believe the price would be so cheap for such expensive stones.

The sales man smiled knowingly at him before replying. "I can assure you sir that these gems are a 100 % real. I can show you the certificate of proof if you don't believe me. He hastened to continue when he saw Draco's humiliated face. "I understand though why you would doubt me. The price is extremely low for such precious gems. I've tried to talk to the stores management about increasing the prices but he seems to think that the lower the prices the more customers will buy…I can't help but disagree".

Draco looked at the ring again and knew that he couldn't care less about whether it was cheap or not…he was getting it. "The certificate won't be needed, sir. I'll take your word for it. I'd like this ring packed in its rightful box please and no wrapping…I'm going to need to open it later.

_Hermione's POV_

Hermione was washing the dishes when she heard a knock on her door. Wiping her hands dry, she went and opened to door only to come face to face with Draco Malfoy. "I guess today is the day I get to find out what the men were asked to do", she thought. She could see that Malfoy was very nervous and she couldn't help but be excited and anxious as to why. She hoped that after Malfoy did what he had to do they would have some time to talk about their situation.

"Malfoy", she started, "whatever are you doing here?" She tried to sound as polite and calm as possible. Malfoy visibly swallowed. Hermione was beginning to get worried. It had to be something pretty serious to get Malfoy to look as nervous as he did now.

"Um… hi Granger. How are you? Long time no see huh?" said Malfoy. It was obvious to Hermione that he was playing for time. Since she was feeling a little sorry for him, she let him bide his time until he felt that he was ready. After all, she was 100% sure that he didn't want to do this…was embarrassed or something of the sort.

After a few seconds, he looked up at her and to her shock dropped on one knee. "What in the name of hell…" she thought. Hermione was sure that her eyes were working against her because it couldn't be possible that _Draco Malfoy _was on his knees. She was wrong. Her eyes weren't the only thing working against her. Even her ears were making her here things that weren't actually being said.

"Hermione….will you m-marry me?" asked Malfoy. Hermione was sure her knees were going to give away. It just wasn't possible… Draco Malfoy couldn't be proposing to her. Suddenly she remembered the pack about the Marriage Law all girls had received and things started to make a little more sense to her. Malfoy was only proposing to her because of the stupid law. They probably made it as a rule for all men!

Hermione couldn't believe she had thought Malfoy was doing this to try and make them forget that they were forced into this. "Malfoy probably doesn't even have these sorts of feelings!" she thought bitterly. It was then that Hermione saw Malfoy taking out a small, velvet box out of his pocket.

When she saw the beautiful ring inside it Hermione forget all the bitterness she was feeing moments before because someone couldn't have bought a ring that was so perfect for her without some thought. "Maybe Malfoy did try to make this better…" she thought. Hermione suddenly realised that Malfoy was still waiting on one knee for her answer looking as anxious as ever.

"Yes…I will marry you…" said Hermione. She knew she had no choice but it felt nice to know that she had actually had a normal marriage proposal were a man asked her to marry him on one knee and she got to say yes. She had to smile a little when she saw Malfoy sigh in relief. She could imagine how difficult this probably was for him. When she saw that he was now standing up she decided to ask him if they could talk. "It's now or never", she thought.

"Listen, um…_Draco_… I'm pretty sure that neither one of us wanted this marriage but it has happened nor there's nothing we can do about it. Before today we hadn't seen each other ever since the war ended and I think it's stupid to get into a marriage…even a forced one…without talking things through before. So…would you like to come in so that we could do…just that?" Hermione stopped to try and catch her breath while opening her door a little more to show Malfoy that she meant what she had said.

She saw Malfoy…_Draco…_getting up and anxiously waited his answer. Draco sighed. "I guess you're right. The situation we're in needs to be talked about. Before I come in though I want to make one thing absolutely clear." Hermione started expecting the worse at this. "I get to choose were the marriage will take place". Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise at this and Draco burst out laughing.

"Maybe this won't be so bad", thought Hermione.

_**Author's Note: I'd like to apologise for any inconvenience I've been causing by deleting the chapters and uploading them again. It was something that needed to be done in order to try and get full sentences again. If there are still some missing words please PM me or write a review on this story and I'll see what I can do. **_

_**Love always, kikkina123 xxx**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Blaise's POV_

He was ready to collapse on the floor from exhaustion. How he hated this stupid marriage law! He just couldn't believe they wanted HIM to propose to Ginny Weasley… of all people. "Of all the girls in England they had to choose a Weasley for him", he thought.

He had just spent THREE hours at a jewellery store trying to find the right ring for the Weasley girl. That had been a very difficult task because he knew next to nothing about her so he didn't know what the right ring for her was. After three hours of pure torture he managed to find an acceptable ring for her.

He had always pictured Ginny Weasley as fierce but sensitive at the same time. That's why he chose a ring that was small and dainty in shape but fierce in colour. The band was simple and narrow made of silver and the gem was small in the shape of a heart. The heart was made of a bright emerald and on both sides of the heart there was a tiny, shiny diamond.

The more he looked at it, the more he liked it. He just hoped that the Weasley girl would like it too since that was what she was getting. He knew that normally when buying a ring you would choos4e some styles you like and then choose the one you liked the most from them but he really didn't have it in him to spend another three hours to find another style of ring he liked. Apart from that, this heart shaped ring was really growing on him so he decided to just get it over with and buy it so he could go and finish this proposal once and for all.

"Excuse me sir, I would like to buy the heart shaped ring if it isn't a problem. Please put it in its rightful box and don't wrap it please… I'm unfortunate enough to have to use it later", he finished.

_Ginny's POV_

It had been two days since she had received the Ministry Booklet and she had been feeling more and more exhausted each day that passed. "They weren't kidding when saying that after three days of not seeing your partner you'll start getting more tired each day!", she thought.

The one thing she hated the most about this new law was how much of her independence she was losing. She couldn't even stay two days without seeing her partner without feeling as if a building had just fallen on her. She had always been a very independent woman and that was how she had managed to live in a big house all on her own for so long and she hated to have that independence taken away from her.

She heard a knock at her door and went to open it, not quite knowing that she was about to get the shock of her life. She gasped loudly when she saw who was waiting at her door. Blaise Zabini in all his glory, leaning casually against the doorframe. "What the hell are you doing here Zabini?" she yelled. She felt herself blush when she saw Blaise raise an eyebrow at her choice of language.

"Well, hello to you too, Weasley. It's nice to see you too and thanks for asking by the way." he said sarcastically. "I'm here to do what the Ministry has asked of all boys but before I feel compelled to tell you that I'm only doing this because I don't want to live as a muggle and NOT because I want to make this better for you. If it was for me I would only talk to you during the wedding and afterwards to conceive the baby", he continued. With all that out of his stomach Ginny saw him get something from behind his back and presenting it to her.

Ginny was shell shocked and became even more shocked when she realised that it was a small jewel box in the shape of a square. She saw Blaise opening it and gasped for the second time in five minutes when she saw an engagement ring. A beautiful engagement ring. She would have been in seventh heaven right now if it weren't for the cold way Blaise was looking at her. She was starting to think that maybe he had wanted her to hate the ring or something.

"May I ask you why you are looking at me like that?" she told him. He merely raised his eyebrows. Seriously? He was really starting to irritate her with his cold way of treating her. She knew that he didn't like her and she didn't like him either but he could at least try to act a little politely.

Apparently, he finally decided to grace her with an answer to her question. "I hope you don't think that I like you in any form or way just because I gave you a bloody ring. I only did because the Ministry made me or else I wouldn't have cared less. Now if you can excuse me I have more important things to take care of."

"Wait!" yelled Ginny. She saw Blaise stop walking and turn to look coolly at her. She felt like she used to at Hogwarts… like she were beneath him even though she knew that wasn't true. Taking a deep, calming breath she started to make her preposition. "Look Zabini, I don't know about you but lately I've been feeling the effects of this Marriage Law and I've been awfully tired. Since I'm the owner of an important bookstore, I always need to be on the alert and not as tired as I've been lately. What I'm proposing is this. We meet for a few hours every day. That way we'll not be exhausted and we could even plan the wedding while we're at it. So… what do you say?"

Zabini had been really quiet through her whole speech. And she was scared he was going to say no. She saw him sigh heavily and then he started speaking. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. I can't be tired all the time either or the MPZ Company would suffer. I don't want the company to suffer because of me. We'll do like you said… meet everyday for a few hours. But Weasley, let me make something completely clear! I am not hanging out with you for more than two hours. That would be more of you than I could handle."

Ginny glared when she heard the last part. "Trust me Zabini; the feeling is more than mutual. So, you want to come in? Might as well start this now." Blaise nodded reluctantly and entered the house.

_Ron's POV_

He wasn't as nervous about it as Harry had been and that was for sure. Ron could remember clearly how nervous Harry had been before he went to propose to Pansy Parkinson. "He had almost thrown up all the breakfast he had eaten!" thought Ron. Obviously, Ron had it much better. Even though he wouldn't have chosen Luna Lovegood if he was given the choice, at least they were friends.

After the war, Luna had gone to the Amazon with her father to search for the Billyongus; a creature Ron didn't believe existed. Ron had still heard from her when she had sent him and his friends the occasional letter or postcard. Ron had heard that Luna had been back for a week or so, just in time to receive the Marriage Law letter. "Poor thing", thought Ron, "I can imagine how she felt to receive such awful news right after coming back from her holiday… well… sort of holiday.

Ron had obviously waited till the last moment to go and propose to Luna, precisely the last day given to them by the Ministry. He was now waiting in front of Luna's door. He was getting worried. He had knocked five minutes ago and no one had opened yet. "Do not panic", he thought furiously, "She's probably in the bathroom or something and couldn't come instantly to the door. Harry was right. I should not have waited till the last minute to do something like this!" He was truly starting to panic when the door opened. He visibly breathed in a sigh of relief. "Hi Luna", he said at seeing who had opened the door.

_Luna's POV_

She hoped that whoever had knocked was still there after five whole minutes of waiting. She opened the door to find Ron Weasley looking as if he was about to start panicking. "Hi Luna", she heard him saying. She obviously knew why he was there. It had to do with the Marriage Law. She was still very bitter about that Law. It wasn't because of any relationship she might have had, which she obviously didn't. It was the fact that the Ministry were messing with her personal life that bothered her. She wasn't about to take it out on Ron though.

"Hello Ron2, she said. "What brings you here today?" Imagine her surprise when Ron fell to the ground on his knees and blurted, "Will you marry me Luna?" She could honestly say that it was one of the most shocking moments of her life.

"Ron, I don't exactly have a choice do I? So…yes, I will marry you", she told him with an amused look on her face. Her amusement grew even more when she saw him blush a deep red. "Ron… is there something you have to tell me that has to do with this request of yours?" she asked.

Ron stood up and blushing even more he said, "Sorry I didn't explain I just wanted to get that out of my system. As a part of this Marriage Law the Ministry made all the boys propose till the end of the week, so here", and with that he got out a wonderful ring. It was very simple yet gorgeous. It had a plain silver band and in its middle it had a breath taking square amethyst. On each side of the amethyst were two small, square diamonds.

She held out her hand and Ron put the beautiful ring on her finger. "I really hope you like it…" said Ron shyly. She tried to answer but was still feeling shocked over the beautiful ring so she just nodded. Ron smiled at seeing her nod and said, "I'm happy to see that. Listen, would you mind if I come in so that we can talk a little about this Law?" Luna nodded again and opened the door wider to let Ron in.

_**Author's Note: Hope you like this chapter! Don't forget to review **____** xx**_


	7. Chapter 7

_Harry's POV_

At this moment he was at Grimmauld Place, his home, with Pansy Parkinson. They were, to his dismay, discussing wedding plans and currently, they were agreeing on nothing. He had always wanted a simple wedding with only the closest people to him attending. Apparently, his dream wedding wasn't about to get realised.

"Harry, I want the wedding to take place in May, two months from now to be exact!" yelled Pansy. They had been arguing about the date for more than an hour. Pansy wanted the wedding to take place in May while Harry wanted the wedding to take place in April, a month from now.

"Why do you hate May so much?" yelled Pansy. Harry didn't hate May but he didn't think it was the right time for a wedding. The climate starts to get hot in May and people wouldn't enjoy themselves that much.

Not that he cared about whether some of the invited people enjoyed themselves or not. He had talked to Pansy about his wish to invite only the people close to them and she had had the nerve to laugh in his face. "We can't invite only the people close to us! We wouldn't be known like that. There wouldn't be any gossip about our wedding. Besides, don't you think it would be a waste for the 'Boy Who Lived' to have that small a wedding?" she had said.

He had to admit that he had gotten a little angry at that comment. "Doesn't the 'Boy Who Lived' get some peace?" he thought. "There's no way I'm going to invite journalists from the Daily Prophet to cover my wedding. I still don't trust them after that Voldemort fiasco during fifth year. If I have to invite journalists to cover the wedding, I'll invite Luna and her dad and they can publish everything on the Quibbler. I was inviting them anyway."

He finally got tired of arguing so agreed to have the wedding in May on the condition that they only invited the people close to them and that the Quibbler got to cover the wedding.

He saw Pansy about to refuse but she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said, "Fine, we do the wedding in May and I'll agree to those conditions."

"Pleasure doing business with you", joked Harry ignoring the glare Pansy sent him.

_Draco's POV_

"I swear we never argued this much, not even at Hogwarts!" he thought. Draco and Hermione were currently at a small coffee shop in Diagon Alley discussing wedding plans. "She's so bossy! I'm starting to think that she's the only one getting married with the way she's behaving as if I'm not here!"

"Granger… I mean Hermione… I'm right here you know? If you're going to keep acting as if I'm not here tell me so I'll just leave", he said to her.

"Is there something bothering you?" she asked. He tried looking at her as if she was dumb and apparently it worked because she glared at him. "Yes, there is something wrong actually", he started. "How about the fact that we've been here for an hour and you're just choosing stuff for the wedding without once asking my opinion. I'm getting married too you know!" he yelled.

He saw Hermione blush and felt smug that he had made her see reason. "Sorry Draco, I just want the wedding to be nice even if we don't want it. Might make this Law easier."

He understood her, really, he did. But he still didn't think it fair. The Law would be easier for her not for him since he didn't choose a thing. The one time she asked for his opinion she called his idea stupid and they had argued like mad afterwards. "Would you mind if we did this together? Because the way you're doing it, you're the only one that will enjoy the wedding", he said.

"Yes, you're right. Well, let me tell you what I've decided till now and you can tell me if you agree or not", she answered him. "For a date I'm not yet sure… I was thinking sometime in June or May. As catering I was thinking we could ask . We'll pay her of course and she'll cook the food for the wedding. No one cooks better than her I swear. I'm not sure about the location. I'm having trouble choosing one. Any ideas?"

Draco hadn't said anything for now. Even though he hated to admit it Granger had done a pretty good job. He was going to have a hard time asking a Weasley to cater to his wedding but he had heard from quite some people that Molly Weasley was an amazing cook. The date was acceptable too. He frowned when he had heard her mention the location. "I thought I had made it clear that I got to choose the location. The wedding is going to take place at Malfoy Manor, no arguments. The gardens are very big and there is a huge Hall too for parties in case the weather is bad", he finished.

He was already expecting Hermione to argue about the chosen location and was pleasantly surprised when he saw her smiling. "Malfoy Manor is a great wedding location. I've never been there of course but I've heard people say it is beautiful. What about the other things I mentioned? Are they to your liking?" she asked.

Draco momentarily thought about telling her he hated the plans but he wasn't in the mood for another argument, especially for nothing. So he just said the truth. "I think the plans you have just talked to me about are acceptable. So, we have the location and catering taken care of you just need to ask Mrs. Weasley if it's okay with her. What about the date? Should we organise it for May or June? And what about other things like flowers and all that stuff?" He personally couldn't care less about flowers, but he knew the girls liked this sort of stuff.

"If you don't have any preferences about the date we could just make it a little sooner. In May, two months from now to be exact. Gives us enough time to plan. As for flowers and other things you don't have to worry about anything, I'll handle them. You just need to order the dress robes you'll be wearing and tell me what colour they are so I can order matching flowers and bridesmaids dresses. It will also be better if you could write a list with the names of the guests you want to invite. We can then order the invitations and souvenirs together. Does all this sound acceptable to you?" finished Hermione.

Draco had been listening very intently. His mother was going to be there and she liked to give great importance to the decorations of a wedding. "May is fine as a date and don't worry, I will order the dress robes as soon as possible and let you know the colour. Maybe you'd like to meet again so that I can give you the guest list? Let me warn you, the Malfoy family is a very influential family even after the war. There are going to be quite a lot of guests, some of which I may not know myself. The marriage of the only Malfoy heir is something very important. We have a lot of Ministry connections so expect a lot of Ministry workers at the wedding. I also have to invite all the people that work for the company me, Pansy and Blaise own. You can invite anyone you want but I get to do the same", he ended.

He looked at Hermione to see her with her mouth open. "You cannot possibly believe that I'm going to let you invite all these people! I understand that you have to invite all people working for your company. You're their boss after all. But you cannot invite all those Ministry workers, some of which you don't even know! We are only going to invite the people closest to us and the workers of your company. No one else!" she concluded.

He couldn't believe his ears! "People closest to us? Mother would kill me if I said that!" he thought. He was going to put a stop to this nonsense now! "Absolutely not! Apart from the fact that my mother would kill me if I said that, there's also the fact that what I want is what I told you! A huge wedding! I want Ministry workers to be invited, all of the workers at my company and I even want the wedding to be covered by an important newspaper like the Daily Prophet. And since that is what I want, that is what's going to happen and I don't care what you think!" he argued.

He could see that Hermione was angry. She was getting red in the face. "You're not the only one getting married Malfoy! I'm getting married too and I refuse to follow these wishes you have just mentioned… it's just too much for my liking! And there is no bloody way in hell I'm letting any newspaper cover my wedding! I don't care who you are!" she yelled.

"That's it! I agreed to every suggestion you made whether it was for the date or something else. I even agreed to let you ask a Weasley to be our caterer. A WEASLEY! I even let you invite whoever you want to. All the Weasley family and even your muggle family and you won't even let me invite whoever I want after I agreed to all that?" he yelled back.

"I'm not stopping you from inviting your friends and family!" she argued.

"What difference does it make?" he argued, "The only friends and family I have are my mother, Pansy, Blaise and Severus Snape." He could feel moisture in his eyes. He hadn't thought about his deceased friends and family for months. He had to leave before he started to cry. "I'm inviting my Ministry connections, the company workers and some journalists from the Daily Prophet. This discussion is over", he said with a cold voice. With that he stood up, left some galleons on the table and left the coffee shop.

_Hermione's POV_

Right now she was feeling extremely guilty. She had seen the wetness in his eyes when he talked about his friends and family. She had brought back long forgotten memories. "Me and my big mouth!" she thought. "Now he won't talk to me for days and I'll start getting tired again. Just when things were running so smoothly, I go ahead and make him angry!"

With these thoughts in mind she got up and left the coffee shop trying to think of ways for Draco to forgive her.

_**Author's Note: I realise that right now I'm only republishing chapters but the new chapters will start very soon since they're already written. Don't forget to review! **____** xxx**_


	8. Chapter 8

The group of friends were set to meet in five minutes. The first to arrive was of course Hermione, who always liked to arrive a little earlier. Ginny, Ron and Harry arrived and a few minutes later they were sitting comfortably in a restaurant and they had just started talking about how the Marriage Law was working out for them. Needless to say, no one was very happy. Hermione was the first to start talking.

"Draco isn't talking to me I said some things that made him angry. I'm not blaming him for being angry at me but you'd think he'd be fed up of always feeling exhausted! It's been four days since we last saw each other and I can barely stand up half the time!"

The group of friends were all quiet while Hermione talked and when she was finished they all had something to say. Ginny was the first to comment. "You said that you said something that made him angry", she started. Hermione nodded at that. "And you admit that you shouldn't have said what you did?", Ginny continued. Hermione nodded again. I personally think that you should be the one taking the first step and apologise to Malfoy for what you said. I realise this is going to be hard but it's better than staying exhausted!"

Hermione nodded. "I guess you're right. I have to remedy my actions", she said. "But enough about me. What about you guys? How are things working out for you?" Harry was the first to answer, "It's horrible! Pansy is not that bad but when it comes to talking about the wedding she turns into this completely different person. I know I promised her the perfect wedding she's always dreamed of but I'm getting married too for god's sake and there are certain things I simply cannot stand. I start feeling nervous whenever we start talking about the wedding because I know we'll finish the finish the conversation by arguing!"

"Come on mate! How bad can her wishes be!", started Ron. "Just follow through with them that way you'll be keeping your promises and you would stop arguing that much." Harry had been glaring at Ron throughout his whole speech and decided that now was the perfect time to give Ron a piece of his mind. "How bad can her wishes be? I'll tell you how bad! How about wanting to come to the wedding location in a white carriage drawn by SIX white horses and wanting to hold the marriage in the Bahamas at the same time? How is that even possible? It's either the horse-drawn carriage or the Bahamas and I hate both ideas!", he finished with a big shout.

All the others were staring at him. They had never seen Harry shout so much. Ron was the first to try and calm Harry down. "Easy mate. Take some deep breaths and close your eyes… that's it. Just like they taught us during Auror training…" Once Harry was calm they tactfully changed subject so as not to give Harry any reason to start shouting again.

Ginny was the next to complain about her partner. "Zabini's always so cold and uncaring. I'm starting to rue the moment I asked him to meet once everyday. We meet at a coffeeshop. He sits down, drinks his coffee and reads the Daily Prophet until it's time for us to go our separate ways. I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary from him but this is just too much. I have got to be the adult here and start trying to engage him in some sort of conversation."

They all nodded at this, agreeing to her solution. Ron was the only one remaining to complain and they were all shocked when he said there was nothing to complain about. "The truth is", started Ron, "that I have only met Luna once or twice so there isn't much to say. I have to admit that I am a little scared because she looks as crazy as she used to at school!"

They all laughed at that but kept silent. They were all deep in thought, thinking about their own problems. They had to find a way to fix all of these problems… and fast!

_Harry's POV_

He was currently having a bad day. A very bad day. He was at the Ministry, in the Auror's department. He was in his cubicle trying to understand a new case that was just filed in. It wasn't that difficult a case and he had had worse. The problem was that he had a deadline so he couldn't do what he usually did. Usually, he read the case's description twice or even more. Then, he divided the clues they had into sections: Needed and Not Needed. Then he started to create different scenarios in his head using the clues, description and photos taken on scene of what could have possibly happened. He then made a list of all suspects and started to match these scenarios with each of the suspects.

This method of his had never failed but since it was quite long it always took him four to six days to solve the case. That had never been a problem before… until now. He only had two days to solve this case so the use of his effective method was out of the question. Without the use of his method, he was having a very hard time solving this case. "There's no way I'm going to be able to solve it in two days!", he thought.

He swore loudly after looking at the clock. He had promised Pansy to meet her at the Three Broomsticks at six o'clock and it was already a quarter to six. Knowing that he had to work on the case but also knowing he couldn't miss the appointment with Pansy, he grabbed the case file and his cloak and went on his way to meet Pansy.

He knew it was a bad idea meeting Pansy to disvuss wedding plans when he was so stressed out over the case but he also knew that Pansy would hear no excuses if he tried to cancel their plans. He had obviously had no choice.

He arrived at the Three Broomsticks right on time. Out of breath, but still on time. He had been hoping that Pansy wouldn't have arrived yet so that he would be able to relax a little but apparently the gods had it against him because Pansy was already there and had also ordered for them.

"Hi Pansy", he said after sitting down and making himself comfortable. Pansy smiled at him and after saying the proper 'hellos' got right down to business. "So Harry, I was wondering if you had thought on the ideas I mentioned. You know… about holding the wedding in the Bahamas and about the horse-drawn carriage. After all, the wedding is only two months away and I think we had better start booking. We don't want to leave things till late.

He had no idea what he could possibly tell her to make her forget about the Bahamas and the carriage. He hated both ideas so much! But he also didn't want to hurt her feelings… he was made that way. He decided that he had to tell her the truth.

"Listen Pansy, I think it would be better if you knew the truth. I don't really like those two ideas. I'd rather have my wedding in England and I'd feel much better seeing you arrive in a car. I know you want our wedding to be known but I think I've had enough people gossiping about me to last me a lifetime. So… what do you say?

He was worried about Pansy's response. She had been awfully quiet during this speech of his. When she finally did talk it was to say something he loathed. "Wow! The amazing 'Boy Who Lived Twice' can't handle a little gossip? You're pathetic! You let all these people trample on you with their gossip!"

The one thing he hated the most was when people called him the 'Boy Who Lived Twice'. When people treated him different because he lived twice. People thought they could talk about him behind his back because he was the 'Boy Who Lived'. He might have lived twice but he was still Harry and he still wanted to live a normal life. Pansy had no right to accuse him of being pathetic just because he was tired of hearing false stories about him. Suddenly, the pressure of the unsolvable case, the Marriage Law and the wedding plans all tumbled together and he exploded.

"I'm pathetic? Me? How about you huh? You're the pathetic one not me! Aren't you the one who wanted a horse-drawn carriage? Girls of six years imagine getting to a wedding in horse-drawn carriages! Are you six Pansy? I'm sick of people talking behind my back about me just because I'm the 'Boy Who Lived'! I'm not pathetic for wanting to be myself and live a normal life! You are! You with all these stupid wedding dreams that I hate and can never agree to. Your wedding dreams are stupid and childish! You're the pathetic one…not me.

Pansy stood up walked over to him and gave him a very hard slap. He suddenly realised what he had just done. He hurt someone else's feelings in his desperate attempt to relieve some of his stress. "Listen Pansy, I am s-", started Harry but was cut off by Pnsy's cold voice. "I never want to see you again", she said and apparated away before Harry could even try to say something.

"I messed up badly", he said to himself before he too apparated out of the Three Broomsticks.

_Pansy's POV_

She couldn't stop crying. She tried but she just couldn't. "All this time I thought he was understanding me and I thought he'd follow through with his promise to make my dream wedding true. I guess I really am pathetic if I actually believed him. All this time I thought he understood my ideas and dreams and all this time he was actually lauhing at me behind my back. He probably even had a laugh with his friends about what a childish dreamer I am!", she thought.

Pansy had never felt so humiliated. She had trusted Harry and he had thrown that trust back in her face. "I never want to see him again. I don't care if I die of exhaustion." She thought she handled it well though. She hadn't shed a single tear in front of him like she had wanted to. The slap and her cold voice were her way of hiding how much he had hurt her.

She finally decided that crying on her bed wouldn't make her feel any better, so cleaning up her face a little, she apparated to Malfoy Manor were she knew Draco was. He and Blaise would help her get through this.


	9. Chapter 9

_Draco's POV_

"I CANNOT BELIEVE POTTER SAID THAT TO YOU!" yelled Draco. Pansy had just finished telling Draco what had happened with Harry. Obviously he was far less than happy. No one treated Pansy that way, especially not Potter. He was about to start giving a very vivid description of what he was going to do to Potter when Pansy interrupted him.

"Draco, please leave him alone. I know he deserves everything you were going to do to him but I just want to forget about him. Please Draco… please." Draco had never been able to say no to Pansy so he ended up promising not to do anything to Potter. Pansy started talking again. "Draco, I don't want _Potter_ to find me. Can I please come stay here with you for a while? He'll never think about coming here." "_I hope_", she added to herself.

He was nodding even before she had finished the sentence. "Of course you can stay Pansy, now, how would you like it if I flooed Blaise to tell him to come here? I'll tell him all you've said to me so you won't have to repeat it. I promise that we are not going to do anything to Potter if those are your wishes.

Pansy nodded, grateful that Draco was taking over. She felt a lot calmer now with his support. Now that she was calmer though she noticed some strange things about Draco. He had dark bags under his eyes and when he stood up he looked a little shaky. He looked very different from the confident and arrogant Draco she knew.

He realised Pansy was looking at him strangely and decided to ask her about it. "Pansy, is something wrong? You're looking at me strangely." He saw her shake her head and then she finally told him what he was looking at.

"Draco, are you feeling okay? You just look very tired… and kind of sick. You have dark bags under your eyes and you look a little shaky when standing up. You know you can tell me anything right? What's happening to you?"

He sighed. He should have known that he couldn't be able to hide from Pansy. "I had an argument with Granger. We haven't seen each other in a week", he told Pansy. He saw Pansy looking confused and explained further. "Remember what the Ministry wrote in the booklets? You can't stay away from your spouse for longer than three days without starting to feel the symptoms of exhaustion. I've been sleeping for very long periods but it makes no difference. After the three days you're allowed to spend apart it will be as if you haven't slept at all even if you sleep for, say a day. It's not a very nice feeling, let me tell you that.

Pansy had been listening intently to what her best friend had been saying. She would have never imagined the exhaustion symptoms to be this harsh. No wonder Draco looked like that. She stood up and walked over to Draco. "You can't keep going on like this, it's not healthy. I know that talking to Granger is the last thing you want to do but you have to. You'll only hurt yourself if you keep going on like this. Send Granger a letter and tell her that you want to talk about what happened. Make it clear that you'll still angry, don't want her to think that she can walk all over you. If she accepts your offer, which I'm pretty sure she will because she's probably as bad as you, invite her to dinner. During this dinner I suggest you form some sort of friendship or at least a truce. If you're going to be married you cannot keep arguing like this. Do as I said Draco and you won't be disappointed…you'll see."

Draco nodded and said, "I'll do as you said. I hope you're right and it works. Now excuse me while I floo Blaise. I promise we won't do anything to Potter but I don't promise we won't have fun insulting him now so if you don't want to listen you'd better plug your ears!", he said before leaving the room. Pansy laughed and at that moment she knew that things were going to be fine as long as she had her friends. That didn't mean she had forgiven Harry and that she wasn't incredibly mad at him though. She still didn't want to see him. "No one calls Pansy Parkinson pathetic... no one", she thought.

_Harry's POV_

Meanwhile, Harry was at Grimmauld's Place drinking his guilt away. He knew he shouldn't have said those things to Pansy. Just because he was feeling miserable didn't mean he could make others feel that way. He had tried contacting her to apologise but to no avail. She didn't answer her phone and she didn't open when he went knocking at her house. "She's probably not living there so that I won't have any chances of finding her", he thought.

He hadn't seen Pansy in three days and so was starting to feel the symptoms of exhaustion. He didn't blame her for not wanting to see him. He had said a lot of mean things that he shouldn't have said. Things had been going better for him. Even though he and Pansy still argued a little over the wedding they had been developing a better relationship. He could say that they had been friends. Now he had ruined everything and he had no idea how he could fix it.

_Hermione's POV_

She was still confused about the letter she had received from Draco. He had been very vague so she wasn't sure about what he meant. She had been very surprised and confused when she had received a letter from Draco and had become even more confused after she read its content.

_Granger,_

_I am still very angry about what you said and we're still doing what I said for the wedding but we can't keep avoiding each other… I'm tired and I can't take it anymore. That is why I am inviting you for dinner tomorrow at 8:30. I'd better see you then or else…_

_Draco M._

"What exactly is he inviting me to dinner for?" she thought. She knew she was supposed to be the one trying to get Draco to talk to her again but she got terribly embarrassed and decided that she'd rather die of exhaustion than admitting she was wrong to Malfoy.

Deciding to give Draco a chance, she wrote back to him, accepting his invitation to dinner. She was still unsure about it though. She didn't know that much about Malfoy but one thing was for sure. He would never apologise if he knew it wasn't his fault. Sometimes he didn't even apologise if it was his fault. "He must be really tired if he's actually willing to take the first step for our 'reconciliation'."

Even though she had been too embarrassed to contact Malfoy she had still felt guilty for what she had said and she fully planned to apologise to him as soon as she saw him. She had acted as if she knew Malfoy when the truth was that she didn't know him at all. She knew that the war had changed him a lot. He wasn't the Malfoy she had known at Hogwarts anymore. He was a completely different person. That thought made her resolve to apologise even stronger.

"Tomorrow, I'll make sure my apology is convincing enough and hopefully I'll stop feeling so tired."

_Blaise's POV_

"I have to admit she isn't so bad", he thought. He had been spending quite some time with Ginny Weasley. Most of the times they discussed wedding plans but sometimes, when they got too tired of discussing the wedding or when they were feeling a bit bitter because of the Marriage Law, they spent their time together talking and getting to know each other better.

Blaise had to admit, now that he knew the Weasley girl better, that a lot of his knowledge about her had been false. His mother had probably invented all that stuff so that he wouldn't try to get to know her… because she was a Weasley.

One of the most shocking things he learned was that she and Potter had never truly liked each other above friendship. She told him that for her Potter was like a brother and that Potter felt the same way about her. After the war everyone had thought they would date and so they decided to give the press what they wanted. On a day when Ginny was in a good mood, she told him about how she and Potter decided to fake date to give the press something to talk about and about how they agreed that if they met someone they truly like they'd break off the fake dating.

Apparently, today she was in another one of her good moods because she had begun talking and laughing with him for almost an hour. Suddenly, he saw her turn serious. "Listen Blaise, since we've decided to get married two months from now and that's quite close I think you should meet my family. In simpler words my mum has been driving me crazy with asking me when I'm going to introduce you to them. What would you say to dinner at my house tomorrow?" she finished.

"Oh boy…" he thought. He really hadn't been expecting this and he wasn't really looking forward to it. He had no doubts that the Weasleys hadn't heard very good things about him especially from their children. Dinner was sure to be a very weird affair. He also wasn't looking forward to the talk he was bound to get from her father. "Isn't that what fathers do when their daughter introduces them to her fiancé?" he thought. "They give them a talk about wanting the best for their daughter and about doing whatever it takes to be sure they get it."

He really didn't want to go to any dinner with any Weasley but he couldn't really say no could he? Cursing the Ministry for putting him in this situation he gave a tiny nod. Looking up at her he said, "I'd love to meet your family. I'm sure it's going to be a lovely experience!" He hoped Ginny hadn't noticed the sarcasm laced with his words. He didn't think so with the way she was smiling at him. He hated the fact that he was happy that she was smiling at him. It's not as if he cared whether she smiled or cried.

"Thanks so much", he heard her saying. "I'd better go tell my mum so she can prepare. I'll see you tomorrow then. Will you be able to come around at about eight o'clock?" At his nod her smile grew even wider. "Great!" And with that she apparated away.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" he thought.

_**Author's Note: What do you think? Was it worth the wait? Review and tell me what you think **____** xx**_


	10. Chapter 10

_Harry's POV_

He was seriously at his wit's end. He couldn't find Pansy anywhere; no matter how hard he looked. It had been four days now. Four days from when he last talked to Pansy. "What a huge success that was!" he thought.

He was starting to feel the effect of the Marriage Law. No matter how much he slept he still woke up feeling tired. That was one of the reasons why he was so desperate to find Pansy. He couldn't keep on feeling this tired. It was affecting his work as an Auror and was ruining his daily lifestyle.

The other reason why he really wanted to find Pansy was that he was actually beginning to miss her. He had gotten used to their daily bantering about the wedding and about other insignificant things. He loathed admitting it but he was actually starting to feel something for Pansy…something a bit more than a reluctant friendship.

He had been feeling like this ever since he realised Pansy had gone to extreme measures to make sure he didn't find her but was willing to admit it only now. "It's too late now", he thought, "she doesn't want to see my face so I doubt she would enjoy talking to me, especially about my feelings."

The more he thought about it though, the more he realised that even if Pansy had been talking to him, he still wouldn't talk to her about his feelings. He was still unsure about them. After all, it might be that he was only feeling this way because she wasn't talking to him and because he was feeling really tired. True feelings or not, Harry knew he had to find Pansy, at least to start feeling like himself again. "I'm tired of feeling as if a huge truck has run me over! I'm going to find Pansy, whether she wants to be found or not!" he thought furiously. "Where could she be? It has to be a place that is very hard to find…unplottable but it also has to be safe and a place which she can feel comfortable in and call 'home'".

All of a sudden it clicked. "Malfoy Manor!" he yelled to no one in particular. Abandoning the auror report he was finishing, Harry left for Grimmauld Place in the hope that Kreacher knew of a way to get him to Malfoy Manor.

_Hermione's POV_

She couldn't believe Malfoy lived here. "This is a castle not a house", she thought while staring open mouthed at Malfoy Manor. She had just apparated in front of Malfoy Manor for her 'meeting' with Malfoy. It was eight o'clock so she had arrived half an hour earlier than planned. She wasn't really planning on staying outside but the huge house was making her feel nervous and, though she loathed admitting it, she was kind of scared to knock on the door.

Plucking up some of her Gryffindor courage, she knocked firmly on the door and waited for someone to open it for her. When the door was finally opened, Hermione saw a very small house elf peeking from behind the door. Just as she was about to start insulting Malfoy in her head for still owning house elves, she saw the way the house elf was dressed. It was wearing a simple dress but it was obvious, even to someone like Hermione, that the material of the dress was very expensive. "At least they take care of their house elves well", she thought happily.

She stopped thinking about how the Malfoy's treated the house elves when the elf in front of her started talking. "Master Draco is currently in the dining room waiting for you. Dinner will be served shortly. I was told to give you directions of where the dining room is and then leave. Master Draco would like some privacy." Hermione nodded when the house elf stopped talking and at seeing this house elf immediately continued. "The dining room is located on the other side of this floor. Just walk straight until you find a door with snakes carved on it. You'll find Master Draco waiting inside. Hope you have a pleasurable dinner!" With that the little house elf apparated away.

Hermione was a little scared to be walking in this large house alone but made her way to find the door the house elf had mentioned. She found it quickly enough since the house elf had given her good instructions. As she got closer to the door she started to hear voices. One she could clearly distinguish as Malfoy's voice but she was having some trouble recognising the second one. She could tell it was a woman's voice though. Suddenly the voices stopped.

Curious, Hermione opened the door a fraction and looked inside. She couldn't believe it! She was looking at Malfoy…Draco Malfoy, kissing a beautiful, black-haired woman. Even though Hermione couldn't see the woman clearly enough to recognise her, she could see enough to know what a beauty she was. She had sleek and straight black hair and full pink lips. No wonder Malfoy was all over her. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Hermione was feeling quite jealous.

Was this what Malfoy had wanted to tell her? That he was going to keep on dating even after they got married? Could it be possible that she had walked in on something personal that Malfoy hadn't wanted her to see? Whatever had happened she was still feeling hurt and jealous. Quietly shutting the door close, Hermione walked back the way she came and once outside she apparated back to her home, all thoughts of dinner with Malfoy forgotten.

_Draco's POV_

He had been waiting for Granger in the dining room when he heard a loud popping noise signalling the arrival of someone by apparition. At first he thought it was one of his house elves apparating in to arrange the table for dinner but a soft feminine voice calling out his name made him think different. Turning around he saw Astoria Greengrass, his ex-girlfriend. "What are you doing here?" he asked her a bit harshly. He didn't want to sound rude but Granger was supposed to arrive any second and he didn't want her to see Astoria.

"I just want to talk Draco", said Astoria. "I won't be long." Draco nodded so she continued. "I came here to apologise Draco. I'm sorry our relationship didn't even have the chance to develop. I'm going to come right out and say it. I don't love you and I never did. I was merely attracted to you and I still am but I'm sure that with a little more time to get to know you better I would have started to love you. Now that will never be and I'm sorry. I also came here today to say goodbye. I'm leaving for Romania tomorrow. The man the Ministry arranged for me to marry leaves in Romania and I'm moving in with him. He's Charlie Weasley, maybe you know him. I think it's better if we don't see each other for a while." With that Astoria had to stop talking because she had started to cry.

Draco didn't know what to say. He could understand Astoria perfectly because he felt the same way. Moving closer to Astoria he began talking to her in a soft whisper. "As sad as this whole situation is I know you're right. Our past relationship is still recent so it's better if we keep our distances for a while. Even though I know we never really loved each other there is still one thing that I would like to tell you. I don't and I can never have any sort of feelings for Hermione Granger, the woman they arranged for me to marry. I hate this law they're putting us through and I already hate my upcoming marriage!" he finished his voice definitely louder then when he had started to talk.

Astoria nodded once to show him she understood what he had just said. "Well then…I guess this is goodbye", said Astoria while moving closer to Draco. They were almost touching now so Draco moved a little closer to Astoria, bent his head and kissed her full on the lips knowing it was the last time he'd be able to do it. He didn't want to admit it…he hated to have to admit it but this talk he had with Astoria made him realise the mess he was in thanks to the Marriage Law. It made him want to cry and that never happened to him. He was so busy kissing Astoria and thinking about his situation that he didn't notice the door to the dining room opening a little and then close again after a while.

_**Author's Note: Hope you liked it! This is going to be the last chapter I upload for today but stay tuned for more soon. I promise I won't make you wait so much this time. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think! **____** xx**_


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